~ Avenging Angel ~

by

Rosina LaFata

"I’m not sleeping next to you tonight, Nicholas. It’s not necessary."

"Oh, but it’s very necessary. If you don’t, I won’t be able to sleep, and we’ll never get to leave early enough to make it back to the village before dark."

"Well, if you can’t sleep without me next to you, you’ll have to take me with you to Pinckney won’t you?" Sammy’s saucy reply made Mac laugh.

"Oh, honey, it’s just having you so close that causes the problem. If I leave you at Charrette Village, then you won’t be there to tempt me and keep me awake. However, if you can’t sleep without me..."

"You know very well I can sleep perfectly fine without you. You’re the one that has the problem!"

"Ah! Then you’ll be glad to stay in Charrette Village while I go to Pinckney. That way you won’t have to sleep with me every night."

She’d walked into her own trap. Sammy stood with her fist clinched. She stamped her foot. She could almost feel her blood steaming.

"Why, that’s blackmail, and you know it!" Why did he provoke such extremes of emotion in her? She couldn’t win. She had to find a way to go and to stay out of his bed. There had to be a way. She just couldn’t think of it right now.

Nicholas patted the blanket in front of him. It was a good thing he kept any kind of knowing smile off his face. She knew she’d have exploded if he so much as grinned.

"Come on, love. Time to say goodnight." His voice sounded gentle and coaxing.

Reluctantly, Sammy knelt on the blankets. Another endearment he probably didn’t mean. Does he call all his women "Love"? She felt emotionally exhausted from arguing with him all day, and if last night was any indication, she had nothing to fear from him. So what or whom was she afraid of? She realized the only thing she dreaded was her own lack of control. She had to admit, she felt very much at home in his arms when she had allowed herself to relax. She remembered last night--once his arousal dissipated to the point that she no longer felt its ominous presence--she began to enjoy the comfort of being wrapped in the warmth of his arms.

Sammy gingerly lay on the blanket with her back to him, keeping her distance to avoid contact. Nicholas gently turned her on her back and whispered, "I just need a goodnight kiss, Sammy," as he took possession of her willing lips. Sammy drank in the ardor of his kiss like a person dying of thirst. It seemed like she’d waited all day for him to kiss her again without realizing that what she had longed for was the warmth of his lips.

He traced her lips with his tongue, and she readily opened her mouth to receive that questing member. She matched his ardor with a passion of her own, following his tongue back into his mouth and mimicking the play he taught her. Somehow her hands found themselves around his back, and she pulled him closer. She marveled at the hardness of his muscles. She remembered the strength of steel she felt when he had lifted her to his horse. That brought back memories of Jason’s body lying in the street, and she sobbed in her throat.

"What is it, Love?" Mac whispered. She shook her head in silence, telling him to help her forget the horrors of her past. He kissed the tears from her eyes, licking the salty fluid, drinking her soul, merging their spirits. Her passion became so furious that Mac knew he would lose control if she continued.

"Sammy, I want you. I want you so bad it hurts. If you want this to stop, now is the time. I can’t take many more of your sweet kisses. I won’t be able to quit. Last night, I stopped us before it went too far. Tonight, I don’t want it to end, so it’s up to you."

Sammy buried her head in his shoulder. She shook with passion, and she didn’t understand her feelings. A few days ago, she swore no man would ever again know her intimately, and here she was burning for Nicholas’ touch. Jason had never excited her like this. Her body burned hotter than the fever, and only Nicholas’ caress seemed to sooth her. Maybe he could help her forget. One thing for sure, if she let him stroke her, and it felt anything like what happened with Jason, she knew she would never let another man near her.